2019 US & World Holidays to Plan Your Marketing Calendar Around

Holidays are a great time to craft unique and creative marketing campaigns. Besides the regular national holidays, there are tons of other world awareness days that focus on different themes and issues, many of which may be applicable to your brand.

Here is a list of both national holidays celebrated in the US, as well as global awareness days recognized worldwide. Many of them are created by the United Nations (UN) to emphasis different issues, and are particularly useful for nonprofits.

Other holidays are fun and unofficial days – like Pie Day or Hugging Day, that are great for small businesses.

Some holidays have the same specific DATE, while others fall on a specific DAY, and so will have changing DATES. This list is updated for 2019.

April 25 – World Malaria Day – global day to raise awareness for malaria treatment efforts

April 30 – International Jazz Day – UN day to recognize and appreciate the contributions of jazz

May Holidays

May 3 – World Press Freedom Day – global holiday to focus on the importance of freedom of press as a basic human right

May 4 – Star Wars Day – Unofficial cultural holiday to celebrate Star Wars – “May the Fourth” sounds like “May the force be with you.”

May 5 – Cinco de Mayo – festive Mexican holiday celebrated in Mexico & the US for the defeat of the French army

May 5 – National Day of Prayer – US holiday to call on people of different faiths to pray for the nation

May 12 – Mother’s Day – global day to show appreciation to mothers and mother figures (Changes annually, always the 2nd Sunday of May)

May 15 – International Day of Families – global day to recognize the importance of families

May 27 – Memorial Day – US holiday to commemorate those who have died in military service (Changes annually, always last Monday in May)

June Holidays

June 1 – National Donut Day – Unofficial US holiday to celebrate donuts (Changes annually, always 1st Friday in June)

June 5 – World Environment Day – UN day to raise awareness for the environment

June 8 – World Oceans Day – UN day to raise awareness for the importance of oceans

June 14- Flag Day – US holiday to commemorate the US flag

June 16 – Father’s Day – global day to show appreciation to fathers and father figures (Changes annually, always the 3rd Sunday of June)

June 20 – World Refugee Day – UN Day to raise awareness for the plight of refugees around the world

June 21 – First Day of Summer – the longest day of the year

GET THE HOLIDAYS MARKETING CALENDAR

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July Holidays

July 4 – Independence Day – US holiday to celebrate the declaration of independence from Great Britain

August Holidays

August 4 – International Day of Friendship – UN day to celebrate the role of friendship (Changes annually, always the 1st Sunday in August)

August 12 –International Youth Day – UN holiday to celebrate & promote the efforts of youth in society

August 19 – World Humanitarian Day – UN day to honor humanitarian work

September Holidays

September 2 – Labor Day – US holiday to celebrate contributions of labor associations (Changes annually, always the first Monday of September)

September 5 – International Bacon Day – Unofficial day to celebrate the love of bacon

September 8 – International Literacy Day – UN day to raise awareness for literacy issues

September 19 – International Talk Like a Pirate Day – unofficial day to have fun talking like a pirate

September 22 – First Day of Fall – the autumnal equinox, where the length of day and night are almost equal

October Holidays

October 5 – World Teacher’s Day – UN day to celebrate commemorate the role of teachers

October 16 – World Food Day – UN day to raise awareness for the issues of food supply & distribution

October 31 – Halloween – a global festive holiday to celebrate with costumes and horror themes

November Holidays

November 2 – All Soul’s Day / Day of the Dead – a festiveMexican holiday to honor the dead

November 11 – Veterans Day – US holiday to honor all who have served in military service

November 28 – Thanksgiving – US holiday to show gratitude (Changes annually, always the 4th Thursday in November)

November 29 – Black Friday – US day where business offer the largest sales of the year (Changes annually, always the Friday after Thanksgiving)

November 30 – Small Business Saturday – US day to promote shopping at small business (Changes annually, always the Saturday after Thanksgiving)

December Holidays

December 1 – World Aids Day – UN day to raise awareness for people with HIV/AIDS

December 2 – Cyber Monday – US day where online stores offer sales (Changes annually, always the Monday after Thanksgiving)

December 3 – Giving Tuesday – US day to promote donating & volunteering to charitable causes (Changes annually, always the Tuesday after Thanksgiving)

December 10 – Human Rights Day – UN day to raise awareness for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

December 21 – First Day of Winter – the shortest day of the year

December 25 – Christmas – global Christian holiday to commemorate the birth of Jesus, also a universal holiday for gift-giving

GET THE HOLIDAYS MARKETING CALENDAR

Sign up to get the marketing calendar in a free Word doc that you can edit and add onto.

You'll also get occasional emails with helpful marketing resources

Go ahead and bookmark all the relevant holidays that apply to your brand and industry. Keep checking back, as I’ll add more holidays as I come across them. Are there any I missed that should be on here? Share in the comments!

Now that you have your holiday calendar down, you’ll need the right hashtags to run an effective social media marketing campaign: